Have you ever gone to a great club, sat at the bar, and started talking to someone? After buying or receiving drinks, you think “Wow, this person is amazing!” and you can’t wait to see them again! You set up a date for the next week, and when you see the person a second time, you wonder what the hell were you thinking? Ladies and Gentlemen, that is the No More Humans original graphic novel (OGN). No More Humans is the first OGN set in the X-Universe since God Love, Man Kills which was released about 22 years ago. I had very high hopes for this story, considering the all-star team of writer Mike Carey and artist Salvador Larroca have well established creative credentials. Unfortunately, this book failed to deliver on its promise for me.

In order to properly review this book, I need to address some specific story points. I will attempt to avoid major spoilers, but be forewarned if you want to avoid them.

The first problem I have with this story is the choice of villain. The use of Raze Darkholme from the Battle of the Atom crossover, disappointed me. For the first OGN in 22 years, the major threat is a character that was introduced a few months ago? Other than the fact he has some knowledge because of being displaced in time, there really was no point to using him as a character. I was also extremely disappointed how Carey chose to portray Beast. While Beast made a principled stand, it came across as if he was more of a whining jerk. Instead of trying to convince others to come to his side, it felt as if he was saying, “I am taking my brains and going home.”

Generally speaking, I am a believer that continuity should not get in the way of a good story. When it comes to the X-Men, a writer does not have to be a slave to continuity (there are already an infinite number of alternate timelines). However, the stories should at least make some sense in the overall narrative. There were several times where I was left scratching my head. For example, early on the issue Magneto (who is currently being featured in his own series), Scarlet Witch (who is “dead” in Uncanny Avengers) and Quicksilver (who is currently in X-Factor) arrive setting aside their differences “to address this crisis”. Yet, other than sitting outside an obligatory reference to M-Day, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch do nothing else in the issue. Lastly, the solution to the driving dilemma in the book was way too much of a Deus Ex Machina for my tastes.

Those glaring issues aside, the overall story was not that bad. Carey did an excellent job setting up the various factions, and their various perspectives. It just seemed a little bit too text book. The pacing was well done, and there were a couple of genuinely humorous moments. While Salvador Larroca’s art was as great as ever, the colors were definitely not to my liking. Justin Ponsor, Matt Milla, Jeremy Cox, and guru-efx were all credit with colors. This could possibly explain some of the inconsistencies as the story progressed. Additionally, some of the colors were so dark it totally overshadowed the art. It may have just been my copy, but the colors were so dark on a couple of pages I couldn’t even tell what was happening.

In short, No More Humans has way more downs than ups. I thought the story lacked charm and sometimes made little sense in the overall X-Universe continuity. The colors really detracted from the art instead of complimenting it. At $24.99 for 128 pages, this book should be a pass for all but the hardest of hard-core X-Men fans.